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"What do you want?" she'd said, disappointment sharpening her tone. Ted had smiled and said he'd come to see her, acting as if he made visits to trailer parks all the time, and saying, "Yes, thank you very much," to her flustered mother's offer of a cup of tea.
"Are you okay?" he'd asked quietly, once he and Faith were alone.
"I don't know what you mean."
"Look, Faith, I know you and Cole... I know he meant a lot to you-"
"Cole?" Faith tossed her head. "I hardly remember him."
"Faith. Please. I know you're hurt-"
"You don't know anything!" Without warning, she started to weep. "I hate your brother. You hear what I'm saying? I hate him!"
Ted's gaze went from her face to her hand. She looked down and realized that she'd inadvertently placed her hand protectively over her still-flat stomach. Heat rushed to her face as she looked up and her eyes met Ted's.
"You're pregnant," he said softly.
"No!" Her face turned white. "I'm not ... pregnant," she said, the word hissing softly from between her teeth. She shot a nervous glance over her shoulder. "You go home, you hear me? Just just get out of here and-
"Don't lie to me, dammit. You're carrying my brother's child."
The fight went out of her like air from a collapsing balloon. She sank down on the stained sofa and he sat down beside her, his eyes never leaving hers.
"What are you going to do?"
"Keep your voice down!"
"Faith." Ted took her hand. "You have to tell me what you're going to do."
"I'm not getting rid of my baby," she said, jerking her hand from his, "if that's what you were thinking."
"I don't know what I'm thinking," he said honestly. "Aren't you still in high school?"
"So?"
"So, how can you hope to take care of a baby?" "I'll do what I have to do."
"Meaning, you'll quit school, take a job at the Burger Pit, have your baby and bring him home to this place."
Faith felt her cheeks flame. "'This place,"' she said, trying to sound offended but knowing she probably only sounded defensive, "is my home."
Ted was blunt. "Sure," he said, "and that's what you want for your baby, right? And for yourself?"
How she'd despised him that day! He'd forced her to see that cramped, ugly little room; to smell the stink of beer rising from the sagging furniture; to hear her father's snores coming through the pressboard walls while he slept off a drunk.
Cole used to hold her in his arms and tell her he'd take her away from all this someday but Cole had lied. Now she sat beside his brother while he told her, in painfully bleak terms, that she'd never escape this life, that, worse still, her child would never escape it.
"Let me help you, Faith."
"I don't want Cameron charity."
"I'm not talking about charity, I'm talking about doing the right thing for Cole's child. What are you going to tell people, when they see that you're pregnant?"
"I don't have to tell them anything," she said, even though it was a lie. Liberty wasn't the kind of town where you could tell people to mind their own business.
"You mean, you'd rather keep your pride and let people play guessing games about who put that baby inside you?"
"They'll do that anyway."
Ted shifted closer to her. She could still remember the sound of the ancient springs in the sofa creaking as he did.
"You're right," he said softly. "That's why I'm not offering you money."
"Well, that's something. I meant it when I said-
"I want you to marry me, Faith."
She'd gaped at him, certain he'd lost his mind. "Marry you?"
"That's right."
"Are you crazy? I don't want to marry you. I don't love you. I don't even know you."
"That makes two of us. I don't love you or know you and, frankly, I don't want to marry you, either."
"Then, why..."
"For the child, that's why. You owe him a decent life."
Ted took a long, dismissive look around the trailer before locking eyes with her again. "Unless you prefer this."
"I grew up just fine without your big house and all your money," she replied fiercely.
"Yes," Ted said, "you did. But don't you want your child to have more? Don't you want him to be legitimate?" He leaned forward, reached for her hand. "Tell me you love that baby enough to let me do the right thing for you both."
"You think what you're suggesting is the right thing?" Faith tried to tug her hand from his again but he wouldn't let her. "I'd sooner marry the devil than marry a Cameron."
Thinking back, she knew she hadn't quite pulled it off. Her words had tried for bravado but her voice had quavered with despair.
